Friday, May 26, 2006

My Passion For Water and Wood

I'm waiting to sample lots of goodies in the upcoming week: "L" by Lolita Lempicka and L'Artisan Orchidee Blanche are on their way and tonight, I also ordered samples of Tommy Girl. I don't like the other Tommy Hilfiger fragrances I've smelled but I feel that I must know what the first perfume that used a green tea (Marine) note smells like. Surely my beloved Creed Silver Mountain Water must have borrowed its blackcurrant-tea idea from Tommy Girl. Just as in music I like to listen to "roots" music: Blues, early Jazz such as Dixieland (New Orleans and Chicago), Swing and BeBop, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis to see where the music we hear today had stemmed from, I like to know the roots in perfumery. I'm sorry I skipped Big Band music but unless Ella was singing on it, I'd rather hear Bop. Ok; it depends on the piece of music. I try not to discriminate against any perfume genre, either. Tonight, I'll be dreaming about what Polo Sport Woman would smell like. Maybe it'll be exactly like Silver Mountain Water and maybe it'll be '90s cucumber melon-y.

The Fragrance of the Moment is Declaration Essence (For Men). I already liked Declaration but I like Declaration Essence, too. I don't like the Essence bottle, however; the simple clear bottle without the cobalt blue is much more appealing to me. This sample was sent to me by the same perfpal who sent along my first vial of Cartier Delices and I'm so grateful to get to try it because it's really a great scent. It reminds me of Eau de Cartier with the sharp, herbaceous notes but instead of the fuzzy warm peach in Eau de Cartier, Declaration Essence has a definitive woodsy character. It's very bold and streamlined, a modern scent that could be gorgeous on a man but it's a stylish, simple yet sophisticated scent for a woman. There is no obvious aftershave-like note that I can detect. It dries down with a faint but sharp, citrusy-herbaceous freshness against the dry woodsiness of cedar and birchwood. I think it's stunning and it's not anything like my usual sweet, ultrafeminine scents.

I guess I'm still in the mood for woods as long as it's an interesting blend like this one. There are so few woodsy scents that don't remind me of meditating at a Buddhist temple with burning incense. That's not a bad thing to smell like, by the way, but smoky isn't always easy for me to wear. There are exceptions here, too, like Gris Clair which is smoky (breathy) but cool and sweet.

Some people don't like cool scents at all. I like warm, too, but I can't imagine always wanting to smell warm, especially in the heat. Many perfumes that I like have been described by others as smelling "cold", "metallic" and "shrieking". I think these are similar to some music reviews I've received such as "the guitars are too heavy" and "the drums are too loud". As usual, I like my own taste the best and I think everybody else should like what they like, too. But I think I should say that Declaration Essence would be an avant garde type of scent for most people. It's as soft and comforting as a block of wood. It rocks.

The original Declaration is also a fabulous scent and very similar to Essence but not as spicy and more bracing to me:Cartier Declaration for Men (1998)Notes: Birch wood, Bergamot, Bitter orange, Juniperwood, Artemisia, Cardamom, Cold spices, Oak, Cedar wood, Vetiver.